JERUSALEM – Everybody has an opinion about next Tuesday's midterm congressional election in the U.S. – including senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WND who say they hope Americans sweep the Democrats into power because of the party's position on withdrawing from Iraq, a move, as they see it, that ensures victory for the worldwide Islamic resistance...

Insurance company loses $70 million to 70,000 service members

U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (Nov. 2, 2006) -- Certain insurance agencies got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, now having to pay back more than $70 million to 70,000 service members after allegedly using misleading business practices.

According to the Marine Administration Message 514/06, American Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas and its affiliates, Pioneer American Insurance Company and Pioneer Security Life Insurance Company, allegedly committed violations of insurance protection laws, while selling their Horizon Life and Wealth Builder insurance policies.

After legal claims were settled by federal and state agencies, approximately 70,000 service members who purchased these policies from Jan. 1, 2000 - July 28, 2006, are eligible for cash refunds totaling $70 million and increased policy benefits. This includes former and current customers.

Now, American Amicable companies are no longer allowed to solicit or sell any of their products on a military installation for five years.

Marines and dependents who purchased life insurance products from an American Amicable Company should call the companies’ customer service center at (800) 736 – 7311 and give their current mailing address.

The company will contact each policyholder by mail with information regarding their refund, and will send a check payable to current and former customers.

“This is why we offer legal assistance,” said retired Lt. Col. James O’Donnell, the MARFORPAC attorney advisor. “If in doubt, bring the life insurance policy in, or any contract for that matter, to the legal office, and we will interpret the document for you.”

There are many other forms of deceptive business practice out there as well.

“Out of my 24 years of service, I’ve seen almost every type of scam out there. It’s better to come to us for help, than ask the insurance agent that works off of commission,” said O’Donnell.

There are many government agencies that offer assistance as well.

“The State Department of Insurance is here to protect the consumers’ rights,” said J.P. Schmidt, the insurance commissioner of Hawaii. “Any time the consumer feels something improper is happening, dealing with a life insurance policy, it is very important to contact the insurance department in your state of residence or where the policy was sold immediately.

“Our main duty is taking policyholders’ calls and explaining the situation to them,” said Schmidt. “Then we will investigate whether or not there is a violation of insurance or consumer protection laws.”

The Hawaii State Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors are two good resources to contact with questions about insurance policies, according to Schimdt.

The Hawaii State Department of Insurance can be contacted by calling (808) 586 – 2790.

Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepare to board an air-cushioned landing craft at Kuwait Naval Base before making their way back to the USS Iwo Jima in the Arabian Gulf Oct. 26. After completing three weeks of desert training in Kuwait – the last scheduled exercise of the MEU’s deployment – the unit’s 2,200 Marines and sailors returned to their amphibious ships for the long journey home to Camp Lejeune, N.C. Photo by: Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa, Submitted 10/26/2006

Operation Freedom Call

AT&T El Paso will be hosting Operation Freedom Call this year, once on November 17 and a second one in December. OFC is a video conferencing call connecting our armed forces in three locations in Iraq with their loved ones in the states. I need your help in forwarding this email to anyone with loved ones in the military stationed in Al Asad, Fallujah, and Taji. This means that they can be Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Army National Guard, Naval Reservist, or anyone other armed forces. We will need to collect some information from the families and their loved ones in Iraq.

Please have all interested folks contact me at the number below. If anyone has contacts in the other armed forces, please forward this to them as well. The deadline to submit your information for the November call is 9/28/06. The deadline is to assure that we have enough time to contact our military folks serving in Iraq and give them time to schedule on their end. I do not yet have a deadline for the December call. You CAN participate in both calls. The calls will be scheduled Monday through Friday.

Although the deadline for the November call has passed, there's still time to make the December call. Please pass this info along to anyone you know with loved ones serving in the locations listed above.

8th Air Force to become new cyber command

11/2/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- During a media conference here Nov. 2, Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said the 8th Air Force would become the new Air Force Cyberspace Command.

"I am announcing the steps the Air Force is taking towards establishing an Air Force Cyberspace Command," the secretary said. "The new Cyberspace Command is designated as the 8th Air Force... under the leadership of (Lt. Gen. Robert J. "Bob" Elder Jr.) He will develop the force by reaching across all Air Force commands to draw appropriate leaders and appropriate personnel."

Secretary Wynne said the 67th Network Warfare Wing, now under 8th Air Force, and other elements already within the 8th, would provide "the center of mass" for the nascent Cyberspace Command.

The secretary also said Air Combat Command, Air Force Space Command and Air Force Materiel Command are working to develop the new Cyberspace Command, while Air Force personnel specialists are working to develop educational plans and career paths for those Airmen that will work within the new command.

"The aim is to develop a major command that stands alongside Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command as the provider of forces that the President, combatant commanders and the American people can rely on for preserving the freedom of access and commerce, in air, space and now cyberspace," Secretary Wynne said.

Air Force leaders will begin detailed planning for the new Cyberspace Command Nov. 16 at the Cyber Summit. During the summit, Air Force leaders will chart a way ahead for the Air Force's role in cyberspace, also called the cyber domain.

A soldier dedicated to studying dangerous wildlife recently got attacked by one of the aggressive fat-tailed scorpions he spent months warning other soldiers to avoid.

Army Capt. Stephen Garvin, an entomologist with the 981st Medical Detachment supporting 3rd Army/U.S. Army Central in Kuwait, made a routine visit to a portable toilet at Camp Buehring around 5 a.m. on Oct. 5 when he felt something crawling on his right ankle. Thinking it was a fly, he smacked the offending insect with his left foot and ground it against his ankle -- and that’s when he felt the sting.

“I knew it was a scorpion as soon as it stung me,” said Garvin, a 33-year-old active-duty soldier from Stillwater, Okla. “My first thought was, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’”

After stomping on the 2-inch scorpion a few times to make sure it had died, Garvin scooped it up using toilet paper and immediately sought medical attention. He recognized the crushed arachnid as one of the top three deadliest scorpions in the world, capable of killing a person in seven hours. Within an hour and a half from the venom injection, Garvin suffered extreme nausea, headache and dizziness.

“Things happened so fast; that’s when I started getting concerned. I called the doctor over and said, ‘Something’s wrong,’” said Garvin, who passed out 10 minutes later and didn’t wake up until the next evening.

Garvin was quickly airlifted to Camp Arifjan, put on a respirator and given an antivenom shot. He has slowly recovered and endured a 10-day migraine as a result of the scorpion’s sting.

He had a “classic presentation” of symptoms, said Army Maj. Dennis Kilian, 3rd Army/U.S. Army Central force health prevention officer.

Although half of scorpion stings result in little or no venom spread to the victim, soldiers who are stung by a scorpion have a 50-percent chance of sharing Garvin’s experience, Kilian said.

But out of the six stings reported at Camp Buehring during the last year, Garvin stood out as the only one to get venom injected.

He also stood out because he normally works with the same servicemembers who treated him for the sting. “They all know him, and they were all very concerned,” said Army Maj. Brian Copeland, 981st Medical Detachment commander. Copeland also was wryly amused that an expert on scorpions was stung by one. Now recovered, Garvin has already started receiving nicknames, such as “Captain Scorpion” and “The Scorpion King.” Colleagues drop by with witty remarks such as, “There are better ways to make a name for yourself,” and “You don’t have to get stung to be able to teach soldiers about the effects of scorpion venom.”

It’s “like being something between a celebrity and a circus freak,” Garvin said with a smile.

He only had 30 days to go before finishing his first deployment, but he now has a story to tell and a souvenir to show. Garvin preserved the crushed scorpion that stung him and plans to use it in further teachings of dangers troops face in the Middle East. “We all have to take something back,” Kilian said.

(Army Sgt. Sarah Scully is assigned to the 40th Public Affairs Detachment.)

This 2-inch scorpion is one of the top three deadliest scorpions in the world, capable of killing a person in seven hours. This one stung a U.S. Army entomologist in Kuwait in October. U.S. Army photo

In Today's News - Friday, November 3, 2006

Quote of the Day"One of man's finest qualities is described by the simple word " guts "—the ability to take it. If you have the discipline to stand fast when your body wants to run, if you can control your temper and remain cheerful in the face of monotony or disappointment, you have 'guts' in the soldiering sense. This ability to take it must be trained—the training is hard, mental as well as physical. But once ingrained, you can face and flail the enemy as a soldier, and enjoy the challenges of life as a civilian."-- Colonel John S. Roosma

Today in History1394 - Charles VI has Jews expelled from France.1679 - The close approach of a comet causes panic in Europe.1762 - Spain acquires Louisiana.1783 - Washington orders the Continental Army disbanded.1820 - Cuenca, Ecuador declares independence.1839 - Two British frigates engage several Chinese junks, starting the First Opium War.1868 - John W. Menard of Louisiana becomes the first Black elected to Congress; Ulysses S. Grant is elected President.1885 - Tacoma vigilantes drive out the Chinese, burning their homes and businesses.1888 - Jack the Ripper kills lhis last known victim.1896 - William McKinley is elected President.1903 - Colombia grants independence to Panama.1908 - William Howard Taft is elected President.1916 - A treaty establishes British suzerainty over Qatar.1918 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolves; Poland proclaims independence from Russia.1927 - Tropical storm flooding kills 84 in Winooski River Valley (VT).1928 - Turkey switches from the Arabic to the Roman alphabet.1930 - The first vehicular tunnel to a foreign country opens (Detroit-Windsor).1931 - The first commercially produced synthetic rubber is manufactured.1935 - George II returns to Greece, regaining the monarchy.1936 - FDR wins reelection in a landslide.1952 - Clarence Birdseye first markets frozen peas.1954 - Linus Pauling wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.1955 - The announcement is made of the first crystallization of a virus; an Alabama woman is bruised by a meteor; Australia takes control of the Cocos Islands.1956 - The "Wizard of Oz" is televised for the first time on CBS-TV.1957 - The U.S.S.R. launches Sputnik-2 with a dog (Laika) aboard - the first animal in orbit.1964 - LBJ is re-elected President (assumed the position after the Kennedy assassination).1970 - Salvador Allende is inaugurated as President of Chile.1973 - Mariner-10 launched; it takes the first pictures of Venus, and undertakes the first mission to Mercury.1978 - The U.K. grants grants Dominica independence.1979 - Five people are mortally wounded during anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstration in NC.1983 - Jesse Jackson launches his first campaign for the Presidency.1984 - 3,000 die in a three-day anti-Sikh riot in India; the body of assassinated Indian PM Indira Gandhi is cremated.1986 - The Lebanese magazine Ash Shirra reveals secret U.S. arms sales to Iran; in Mozambique, President Machel is killed in an air crash.1988 - Pakistan claims it has downed an Afghan warplane; President Reagan signs the credit card disclosure bill; the Soviet Union allows the teaching of Hebrew; Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera's nose is broken as Roy Innis brawls with skinheads at a TV taping.1992 - Bill Clinton is elected President.